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32 comments on “Pot-Lucky”

My best friend always invites me to her family’s holiday party, which inevitably ends in a white elephant sitch. Her family is very competitive so its hilarious to watch all the good and bad gifts get passed around. I think one of the worst gifts I’ve seen was a dollar-store-cheap, white pitcher with a sticker claiming that it was toxic that this guy got, while one of the most popular gifts was a $20 iTunes card. I may have to give the lottery tickets this year, that sounds fun. Oh, but an amazing gift would be a package of nail polish!!! Thanks again for the great podcast!
Could you put that Anthropologie link in the notes?

worst white elephant gift would be a giant (like the size of my head) sized cotton candy lollipop. In my white elephant experience there has never been such a thing as a “good gift” just a “well it’s not as bad as last year” gift.

My extended family does themed white elephant gift exchanges, this year is “local” I’m hopeful that people actually bring good stuff. I was pulling for a “favorite things” theme modeled after Oprah obvs

oh… all the food pictures! Is it bad that I absolutely crave for EVERYTHING I see on my screen now? Also, the worst gift I ever got was an old baby angel decorative thing that was chipped and all. It had farmer’s twine for hair and I couldn’t deal with those googly eyes. It was gone the moment I got home. ummm… no thanks.

Also, for that girl who would be having a 2 person Christmas:
Bring Chinese, we do reunion dinner the day before Chinese New Year. It’s pretty similar to how family gathers for Thanksgiving. Lots of food, laughter, good time. Last year, we didn’t have anywhere to go so we were home, just the 2 of us. I was a little sad but then, realized that it could be a nice time for just the 2 of us. I made my hubs dishes that he loves and we enjoyed a really restful relaxing day in. It was good.

Great potluck suggestions – that Orzo dish from Smitten Kitchen was one of the best things I ate all year – my husband and I ate an entire pan over two days. You can’t skip the lemon zest though or it just isn’t as good – I learned that the hard way the second time I went to make it and was too lazy to go out and get a lemon.

Re rumballs – Martha Stewart has a good recipe – basically you make a pan of gorgeous brownies, let them cool and then throw them all in the food processor. That Martha – so cruel. Pulse and then add dark spiced rum in a stream with the processor running until it makes a dough. Roll into balls and then roll in sanding sugar. Or you could just make delicious brownies to eat and then drink a rum cocktail – whatever.

Finally we used to go to an annual friends party with a ruthless white elephant. We had a $25 limit and mostly it was all booze gifts – and one time a copy of the movie Christmas Vacation was hotly fought over. But them some friends in the group felt that the focus on alcohol was too much and fought to make it more wholesome (we were all in our mid 20s) word got out in advance of the party that this group wanted to make the white elephant more wholesome so the rest of use hit up some of Toronto’s finest sex shops for videos and toys. Needless to say the next year they welcomed back alcohol……

My worst gift exchange gift ever was a big, frozen mackerel. They wrapped it up in bubble wrap and put it in a nice-looking basket and totally duped me. It wasn’t even edible – it came from their lab. Smelly. But my dog was always very interested in the basket!

Hey Joy and Tracy!
Could you guys squeeze in a “Favorite Things” into one of your podcasts? I would like to know about you favorite kitchen item, cookbook, podcast, books, websites and anything else you guys wish to throw in. Thanks!

My husband’s family has a white elephant exchange every year on Christmas Eve. They are almost all gag gifts, with a couple cheap but fun things thrown in for the kids like coloring books. For the past few years there has been a recurring gag gift, which we were happy to give away last year. It’s a decorative pillow with embroidery, and on one side it says “TONIGHT” and on the other it says “NOT TONIGHT.” Wha-whaaa. The best part is how the pillow was originally acquired…when my sister-in-law was getting married a few years ago, it randomly appeared in the mail with a note saying it would come in handy after she was married, but she had no idea who sent it. We later found out it came from a strange aunt we don’t see too often.

This is late, but I had to comment about the worst white elephant gift OF ALL TIME.

The party was at a bar (Taco Tuesday!). Everyone had funny gifts, until one of my coworkers brought a HAMSTER. Complete with bedding and food in a cardboard box. At one point, someone was holding him and he jumped out of his hands…onto the bar floor.

We all work at a high school, so the hamster was pawned off safely on a student.

In Spain we call White Elephant the Invisible Friend, and the worst “invisible friend” gift I got was a dried zucchini for decorating… the worst was that I thought it was a joke because of its phallic shape, so I started laughing and the person who bought that was pretty upset….